Meter-reading device.



R. B. KLAPPER, mmnn READING DEVICE. APPLICATION SILED 00T.19, 1912.

Patented Apr. 14, 1914,

m m m m IIIIIIIIII n I v I WITNESSES S 2 is a lon coupling mechanism use,40 my device.

5 indicators 8 mounted upon spindles 9, 9',

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE. Y

iwssiim. B. xi arriia, or moirrrcsnm, INDIANA.

.MEITEB'WING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent. .P t t d 14,

Application tiled October 19, 1912. Serial No. 726,694.

3 To all whom it mag concern I Be it known that I, BUssiiLL B. Knarriin,a citizen of the United States, residing at ,Monticello, in the countyof White and State 5 of. Indiana, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Meter-Reading Devices, of

which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to devices to be used in reading meters andincludes dials and indicators complementing those on the meters to beread, so that the indicators of the device ma be set according to thoseon the meter. 'uch action operates character. wheels so that the readingmay be accomplished without reference to the graduations on the dials,but by visuallp1 noting the characters on the wheels whic appear insuitable sight 0 nings formed in casing inclos ing the mec anism.

The principal objects of my invention are to provide a device/whereby aperson not familiar with the purpose of graduations and characters onmeters now in comn ion use may quickly and accurately read the same infamiliar characters; to provide a device whereby theconsumption offluid, or

material passing through the meter during a certain period may bedetermined; and, in eneral, to provide a device which is simple so inconstruction, eflicient in action and iiwexpensive to manufacture. Inthedrawing, forming a part of this specification :-Figure 1 is a frontelevapion of the device embodying my invention. ig. 'tudinal sectionalview on the 'ne 2-2.0f ig. 1. Fig. 3 is a cross sectio al view on theline 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 's a .plan view of .a spur ear together ithin connection with 1 Similar characters refer to similar partsthroughout the views. a

A suitable body portion 5(i which may be in the form of a casing anhaving a glu- .46 rality of sight openings 6, is provided. or

each sight opening a dial 7 is provided, which ials are formedcomplementarygto the dials on the meter in connection with which thedevice is to be used. In the ex;

' ample shown, the dials each have ten grajduations and four dials aredisclosed, but iitis to be understood that this may be altered withoutdeparting from the spirit or scbpe of my invention. The dials havesuitabge and 9 which are carried by, and extended into the body portion5. The spindle 9 is here nafter termed the master spindle. Assuming thatthe dials represent tens, hundreds, thousands and ten thousandths, asindicated, master spindle 9 has rigidly secured thereto apinion 10.Spindle 9 carries loosely a com'eshing spur gear 11 and this spur gearis provided with mechanism, to be subsequently described, whereby it maybe coupled to spindle 9, so that upon movement of master spindle 9,spindle 9 is driven at a positive ratio through pinion 10 and gear 11,which havej'a velocity ratio of in the e rample'shown. Gear 11 carrieswith it a pinion 10 serving a function similar to that of pinion '10 andcomeshing with agear 11 loosely mounted on shaftd)". This arrangement isprovided throughout the device, but

the last spindle 9 does not require a pinion tion independently of thegears and pinions they carry, and with this end in view, I provide couplng mechanism such as that disclosed in Fig. 4 of the drawin whereby thesaid spindles may move with t e grlaars or independently thereof. Thismec anisin as disclosed is preferably disposed in arecess 12 in each car11 and includes a ratchet wheel 13 rigid with the spindle it is to actin con'unction with; a pawl 14 coacting with sai ratchet heel; and, aspring 15 acting upon. said pawl to hold it in operative relation to theratchet wheel, and com el the same to rotate with gear 11, but yiel ableto permit the ratchet wheel to rotate independently of the latter in thesame direction as it would if actuated through gear 11 upon the"indicatorbeing moved manually by dire'ct manipulation .of its thumbwheel 22.

Itis to be noted that, as disclosed, the movement of master spindle 9 isin a clockwise direction, and imparts movement to spindles 9 and 9 in acounter clock-wise direction, and to spindle 9" clock-wise, all at aositive ratio.

ach dial has registering mechanism adapted to present a character at thesight opening in proximity thereto. This registering mechanism maycomprise a crown ratchet wheel 16 secured to the spindleof therespective dial; a wheel 17 having characters thereon; a ratchet wheel18 rotatable with said character wheel; and an articulated pawl 19vibrated by wheel 16 and acting upon the ratchet wheel 18 to drive thecharacter wheel at'a positive ratio from the spindle. All wheels 17 maybe mounted upon a spindle 20 carried by the body portion 5, andlikewise, the pawls 19, carried by a spindle 21. In the example shown,each wheel 17 has ten characters thereon,0 to 9according to thegraduations on the dial, and the driving mechanism operable intermediatethe dial spindle and character wheel is such as to advance the latterone character as the indicator 8 moves from one graduation: to the nextadjacent graduation. Thumb wheels 22 may be provided on the dialspindles to facilitate actuating the same.

The operation of the device, in order to read a meter, is as follows:The person operating the device first rotatesv the spindle 9, as bythumb wheel 22, to position t e indicator 8 according to the respectiveindicator of the meter concerned. The spindles 9, and 9 and 9 are thensuccessively 'rotated by manipulation of their respective thumb wheels22 to position their respective indicators. approximately according tothe.

indicators on the meter concerned. The actuation of these spindlesoperates their respective registering mechanisms to provide for readingof the meter in familiar characters.

Should it be desirable to determine the amount of fluid flowing througha meter during a certain eriod, the device may be set according to t eindicators of the meter at the beginning of a period, and the reading atsight openings 6 noted. At the end of the period in question, the devicemay be set accordin to the indicators of the meter and the res ingatsight openings 6 again noted, from WhlCh data, the subtractin of thefirst reading at the si ht openings om the second readmg gives tequantityof fluid passirg through the meter during the given perioConsidering further the use to which a device constructed according tomy invention may be put, if it is desired to determine the amount offluid passing through a meter for a very short period and by constantattention to the meter, the operator may by merely -manipulating thethumb wheel 22 and spindle 9 follow the successive movement of theindicator on the meter complementing the indicator 8 on the spindle 9.He may then obtain accurate readings at all of the sight openings sincethe gears and pinions hereinbefore described advance all the indicators8 at a positive velocity ratio according to the movement of spindle 9,through the coupling of gears 11, shown in Fi 4 of the drawing.

lhanges may be made in details without departing from the spirit orscope of my invention; but,

I claim 1. In a meter reading device, the combination of a plurality ofdials, indicators for said dials, mechanism for imparting movement ofone of said indicators to all of said indicators in unison at a positiveratio, but permitting independent movement of any of the indicators onefrom another, and registering mechanism associated with each of saidindicators and actuated upon movement thereof for registering therelative position of the respective indicator with respect to its dial,substantially as and for the'purpose set forth.

' 2. In a meter reading device, the combi-- nation of a plurality ofdials, indicators for said dials, a spindle for each dial carrying itsrespective indicator, means carried by said spindles for impartingmovement of one to all spindles in unison at a positive ratio, butpermitting independent movement of any spindle one from another, andregistering mechanism for each dial operatively connected with thespindle of its respective indicator, to register the relative positionof the latter with res ect to its dial, substantially as and for t epurpose set forth.

3. In a meter readin device, the combination of a plurality 0 dials, anindicator for each dial movable independently with respect to eachother, and registering mechanism associated with each of said indicatorsand actuated upon movement thereof for registering the relative positionof the respective indicator 'with respect to its dial, substantially asand for the purpose set forth. 7

4. In a meter readin device, the combination of a lurality 0% dials, anindicator for each dia movable independently with respect to each other,a spindle for each dial carrrying its respective indicator, andregistering mechanism for each dial operatlvely connected with thespindle of its respective indicator to re 'ster the relative position ofthe latter wlth respect to its dial, substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

5. A meter reading device, comprising in combination, a body portionhaving dials, ah indicator for each dial, a s indle for each indicatorcarried by sald body portion, a pinion rigid on one of said spindles, a

train of gears and pinions carried b the other spindles and adapted tobe riven from said first mentioned pinion at a positive ratio, couplingmechanism carried by gears of said train and coacting with the spindlesthey are carried by to impart movement thereto, but permittingindependent movement of the said spindles one from another, andregistering mechanism for each dial operatively connected with thespindle of its respective indicator to register the relative position ofthe latter with respect to its dial, substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

6. A meter reading device comprising in combination, a body portionhaving a plurality of dials, an indicator for each dial, a masterspindle for the first of said indicators, secondary spindles, onevforeach of the other of said indicators, a pinion for said master spindle,a gear for each of said secondary spindles loosely carried thereby, thegear on the secondary spindle next adjacent said master spindlecomeshing with the said pinion thereof, pinions rotatable with saidgears, the pinion rotatable with any particular gear comeshing with thenext adjacent gear to provide a train of gears, means for coupling saidgears to their respective spindles to actuate the same in apredetermined direction but permitting the spindle to be manually andindependently rotated in the said predetermineddirection, andregistering mechanisms for each dial operatively connected with thespindle of its respective indicator to register the relative position ofthe latter with respect to its dial, substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

RUSSELL B. KLAPPER. Witnesses:

EDNA TURNER, W. S. BUSHNELL.

